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Topic: Hootie's first Chicago Deep Dish (Read 2785 times)

After a bit of research on the forum, Iíve made my first Chicago-style deep dish. I was basically trying to go for a Malnatiís clone.

I already had a recipe from King Arthur Flour that I wanted to try, but I modified it based on some of the research I did on the forum. I probably will continue to tweak it, but my wife and I were quite satisfied with how the pizza came out...in fact, Iíd even say it was great!

I mixed all this together, and kneaded for just under a minute. I then put the dough in the fridge over night, taking it out about noon the next day and letting it sit out and warm to room temperature and rise a bit. (never really rose that much)

About 5:30 pm I rolled the dough out with a rolling pin (I was surprised how easy it worked, and no sticking to the pin or cutting board!) and then transferred it to my 12X3 inch deep dish pan, which had been sprayed with Pam cooking spray and then dolloped with a couple tablespoons olive oil.

After working the dough up the sides, I layered sliced mozzarella in the bottom, then pepperoni (sorry, Iím not a sausage guy) and then the sauce.

I had hoped to try some 6-in-1 tomatoes, since they are raved about on this site, but couldnít find any, so I settled for the Muir Glen, which I found at a local Central Market, and which were quite tasty. Iíve since ordered some 6-in-1 from their website, and will try them out next time.

After I sauced the pizza, I put it in an oven that had been warmed to 500F, then cut to 450F just before I put in the pizza. I let it cook 20 minutes, then turned it a half turn, threw on some sliced olives, and let it continue to cook for 15 more minutes, for a total of 35.

It looked perfect when it came out. I let it rest about 5 minutes, then sliced and served. Not quite Malnatiís, but very, very good. I particularly loved the crust, which was very buttery, with a bit of crunchiness on the bottom, but otherwise flaky and tender. The sauce was also quite good. The large, chunky tomatoes seemed to cook a bit in the oven (which makes sense), losing some moisture but gaining increased flavor, richer and much less acidic than straight out of the can.

Iím going to call this one a success, folks, but hopefully, it will just keep getting better.

I didn't re-hydrate the yeast, but I just mixed it in with the dry ingredients. Would you recommend me doing this next time?

Hootie,

The recommended way to rehydrate ADY is to dissolve it in a small amount of the formula water at around 105 degrees F for about 10 minutes. The rehydrated ADY can then be mixed with the rest of the ingredients. If you don't rehydrate the ADY, the fermentation process will be slowed down. I suspected that you didn't rehydrate the ADY because you should have gotten a rise in the dough with one tablespoon of ADY. Even with the large amount of butter and oil, I think you still should have seen a rise in the dough with one tablespoon of ADY.

It's up to you whether you should rehydrate the ADY next time, given that you were pleased with the results you got. You could rehydrate the ADY just to see if you get better results. You could also use IDY instead of the ADY but use less of it than the ADY. The advantage of the IDY is that it does not have to be separately rehydrated. It can be added dry to the rest of the ingredients. I usually just mix it in with the flour.